Time to Bring Back Proposition 187
When America's borders cease to exist as divisions of sovereignty, and become undefended and unprotected gateways allowing millions of poor, unskilled laborers to cross illegally and without apparent consequence, the rule of law and our country's stability are threatened. Beyond that, however, are the very real costs of such an invasion.
As Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California Legislature continue to meet in special session over the state's nearly $9 billion budget deficit, a report released yesterday by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) details one problem that should be immediately addressed to recoup desperately needed funds: illegal immigration.
According to FAIR, and a similar report released in August by the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, illegal aliens (the vast majority from Mexico) cost Californians $10.5 billion a year for education, health care, and incarceration in state prisons. Even when illegal aliens pay state and local taxes, that figure is only reduced by $1.6 billion a year, leaving a staggering burden on taxpayers greater than the entire current state budget deficit.
The state's prisons are overcrowded with illegal alien criminals, with some estimates as high as 40% of the convict population. These individuals cost the taxpayers $1.4 billion annually, with little reimbursement from the federal government. Health care provided to illegal aliens, who never have insurance, accounts for another $1.4 billion as well.
California schools are especially trampled by these law-breakers. As liberals turn purple over any suggested decreases in increases to education to balance the budget, illegal aliens siphon off $7.7 billion a year from the public school system. In fact, over 15% of all enrolled students in this state are here illegally. The administrators and teachers know who these students are, but are actually prohibited by state law from reporting them to federal immigration authorities, and because most educrats are liberals, would not be inclined to do so in any event. The state even requires special instruction to accommodate foreign language speakers, and of course in this state that means Spanish speakers, and requires all teachers to attend 45 hours of specialized training to meet the needs of these "immigrants". In some urban districts, the only American in the classroom is the teacher. Maybe.
All of this while California politicians strive to grant reduced college tuition and give the privilege of a driver's license to illegals. How ironic that citizen John Smith from Nevada must pay exorbitant out of state rates to attend a California college, while illegal Mexican Jose Gonzalez gets resident rates, and subsidized tuition.
The illegal alien enablers claim that we just could not get along without these people. California's 3 million illegal aliens supposedly fill employment niches that Anglo Americans won't perform, such as agricultural labor and low-skilled food service jobs. But this has not always been the case. At one time, these jobs were filled by poor, uneducated American workers, those entering the job market for the first time, and college students looking for part-time employment. Food service jobs, such as prep chefs, used to be a fairly middle class employment opportunity. One of my first jobs in college was working at a Wendy's fast food restaurant in Sacramento, CA in the mid 1980's. My fellow employees came from a broad range of backgrounds, including a formerly homeless man, low-income mothers making ends meet with a second job, and college kids who worked around their class schedule. One of our managers was from India, who had legally immigrated to the United States and was working his way up through the company. There was not one Hispanic employee, and certainly no illegal aliens. Today, less than twenty years later, that restaurant is choked with workers that can barely speak English, all apparently from Mexico or South America. I could only guess how many are illegal, but I would feel comfortable in saying most probably are.
Both the left and the right in this country are equally to blame for this crisis. Liberals see illegals as potential union members and dependent constituencies, and conservatives believe that lower production costs can only be maintained by paying these people low wages. Because of selfish needs, neither political party seems to feel the pulse of the electorate on this issue, chief among them President Bush who shows an inexplicable deference to Mexico, a filthy third world cess-pool ruled by corrupt, socialistic robber barons. There is a convergence of necessity regarding illegals among these disparate camps, a rare occurrence in today's divided political culture. It is, however, removed from the reality of American opinion.
Americans are tolerant and understanding, but not stupid and suicidal. Every poll shows an overwhelming majority of Americans against illegal aliens, and supportive of immediate steps to remove these criminals from our country. Simply being here, unchecked, is a slap in the face of every immigrant who has done the right thing and followed the law. Californians attempted such a rational course of action when they approved Proposition 187 in 1994, which simply denied access to education, non-emergency health care, and all social services to persons here illegally. Cowering to the Mexican lobby, a dominant force in this state, since-recalled Governor Davis refused to pursue the will of the people through the courts, and allowed an unacceptable arbitration that gutted the law. Since then, even the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has approved as constitutional a similar law passed recently in Arizona.
Braced by this success, a grass-roots movement in the state, led by the Save Our License Committee, is now actively collecting voter signatures to put a new initiative on the ballot in November. This initiative would derail radical Hispanic legislators from their obsession with giving driver's licenses to illegal aliens, and would also deny some social services. The authors of this initiative have brilliantly written the law to require that the governor and the Attorney General vigorously defend it in court, preventing a repeat of Davis' shenanigans.
However, simply depriving social services to these parasites does not go far enough. One other solution that might prove astoundingly effective would be to treat business owners who hire illegal aliens as we do drug dealers, and forfeit the business to the government, for sale to defray the cost of illegal aliens. Imagine the impact nationwide if the state seized a major construction company in Los Angeles, or a Wal-Mart in Sacramento, or a vineyard in Napa County. Employers would actively seek out legal employees rather than take the chance, and Americans would get hired. The employment opportunities for the illegals would quickly dry up, and they would go home. Where they belong.
Since Democrats in California demand increased taxes to mend years of liberal over-spending and ignore the burden of millions of illegals on the taxpayers, and Republicans in Washington attempt to compare these criminal leeches to generations of legal immigrants, there will be very little help from politicians. The problem is not going to get any better, and will most likely get worse. California has a proposition alternative, allowing direct voter approval of state constitutional amendments. It is time to bring back another, stronger Proposition 187 in order to save the state.
Once again, it falls to the people to save themselves.
As Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California Legislature continue to meet in special session over the state's nearly $9 billion budget deficit, a report released yesterday by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) details one problem that should be immediately addressed to recoup desperately needed funds: illegal immigration.
According to FAIR, and a similar report released in August by the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, illegal aliens (the vast majority from Mexico) cost Californians $10.5 billion a year for education, health care, and incarceration in state prisons. Even when illegal aliens pay state and local taxes, that figure is only reduced by $1.6 billion a year, leaving a staggering burden on taxpayers greater than the entire current state budget deficit.
The state's prisons are overcrowded with illegal alien criminals, with some estimates as high as 40% of the convict population. These individuals cost the taxpayers $1.4 billion annually, with little reimbursement from the federal government. Health care provided to illegal aliens, who never have insurance, accounts for another $1.4 billion as well.
California schools are especially trampled by these law-breakers. As liberals turn purple over any suggested decreases in increases to education to balance the budget, illegal aliens siphon off $7.7 billion a year from the public school system. In fact, over 15% of all enrolled students in this state are here illegally. The administrators and teachers know who these students are, but are actually prohibited by state law from reporting them to federal immigration authorities, and because most educrats are liberals, would not be inclined to do so in any event. The state even requires special instruction to accommodate foreign language speakers, and of course in this state that means Spanish speakers, and requires all teachers to attend 45 hours of specialized training to meet the needs of these "immigrants". In some urban districts, the only American in the classroom is the teacher. Maybe.
All of this while California politicians strive to grant reduced college tuition and give the privilege of a driver's license to illegals. How ironic that citizen John Smith from Nevada must pay exorbitant out of state rates to attend a California college, while illegal Mexican Jose Gonzalez gets resident rates, and subsidized tuition.
The illegal alien enablers claim that we just could not get along without these people. California's 3 million illegal aliens supposedly fill employment niches that Anglo Americans won't perform, such as agricultural labor and low-skilled food service jobs. But this has not always been the case. At one time, these jobs were filled by poor, uneducated American workers, those entering the job market for the first time, and college students looking for part-time employment. Food service jobs, such as prep chefs, used to be a fairly middle class employment opportunity. One of my first jobs in college was working at a Wendy's fast food restaurant in Sacramento, CA in the mid 1980's. My fellow employees came from a broad range of backgrounds, including a formerly homeless man, low-income mothers making ends meet with a second job, and college kids who worked around their class schedule. One of our managers was from India, who had legally immigrated to the United States and was working his way up through the company. There was not one Hispanic employee, and certainly no illegal aliens. Today, less than twenty years later, that restaurant is choked with workers that can barely speak English, all apparently from Mexico or South America. I could only guess how many are illegal, but I would feel comfortable in saying most probably are.
Both the left and the right in this country are equally to blame for this crisis. Liberals see illegals as potential union members and dependent constituencies, and conservatives believe that lower production costs can only be maintained by paying these people low wages. Because of selfish needs, neither political party seems to feel the pulse of the electorate on this issue, chief among them President Bush who shows an inexplicable deference to Mexico, a filthy third world cess-pool ruled by corrupt, socialistic robber barons. There is a convergence of necessity regarding illegals among these disparate camps, a rare occurrence in today's divided political culture. It is, however, removed from the reality of American opinion.
Americans are tolerant and understanding, but not stupid and suicidal. Every poll shows an overwhelming majority of Americans against illegal aliens, and supportive of immediate steps to remove these criminals from our country. Simply being here, unchecked, is a slap in the face of every immigrant who has done the right thing and followed the law. Californians attempted such a rational course of action when they approved Proposition 187 in 1994, which simply denied access to education, non-emergency health care, and all social services to persons here illegally. Cowering to the Mexican lobby, a dominant force in this state, since-recalled Governor Davis refused to pursue the will of the people through the courts, and allowed an unacceptable arbitration that gutted the law. Since then, even the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has approved as constitutional a similar law passed recently in Arizona.
Braced by this success, a grass-roots movement in the state, led by the Save Our License Committee, is now actively collecting voter signatures to put a new initiative on the ballot in November. This initiative would derail radical Hispanic legislators from their obsession with giving driver's licenses to illegal aliens, and would also deny some social services. The authors of this initiative have brilliantly written the law to require that the governor and the Attorney General vigorously defend it in court, preventing a repeat of Davis' shenanigans.
However, simply depriving social services to these parasites does not go far enough. One other solution that might prove astoundingly effective would be to treat business owners who hire illegal aliens as we do drug dealers, and forfeit the business to the government, for sale to defray the cost of illegal aliens. Imagine the impact nationwide if the state seized a major construction company in Los Angeles, or a Wal-Mart in Sacramento, or a vineyard in Napa County. Employers would actively seek out legal employees rather than take the chance, and Americans would get hired. The employment opportunities for the illegals would quickly dry up, and they would go home. Where they belong.
Since Democrats in California demand increased taxes to mend years of liberal over-spending and ignore the burden of millions of illegals on the taxpayers, and Republicans in Washington attempt to compare these criminal leeches to generations of legal immigrants, there will be very little help from politicians. The problem is not going to get any better, and will most likely get worse. California has a proposition alternative, allowing direct voter approval of state constitutional amendments. It is time to bring back another, stronger Proposition 187 in order to save the state.
Once again, it falls to the people to save themselves.
posted by Mark Outland at 3:12 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home